Telemetry and personal data collection on iOS and Android devices

[tanjimajuha20]

ndroid versions of recent years are at risk. An update needs to be released promptly and distributed. What will come of it?

According to Android fragmentation data as of April 2023, in the best case and in an ideal world, smartphones with current versions of Android 11–13 (52.1%) should receive updates. Thus, almost half of the devices on the market (all earlier versions) are guaranteed not to receive updates at all. In reality, a significant portion of devices with supported OS versions will not receive updates (or will receive them with a significant delay), since this process is decentralized and solely device manufacturers are responsible for it.

Thus, Android's version india whatsapp resource fragmentation and update model clearly make this mobile OS a much worse choice compared to iOS.


In terms of collecting and transmitting telemetry and personal data to the owner of the ecosystem (Apple or Google), both American mobile OSes do not look the best. I have already written about data collection (IMEI, serial number of the phone and SIM card, phone number, account data, etc.)wrote earlier, but in the context of this article I think it is important to quote2021 studyDouglas Leith:

"Both iOS and Google's Android transmit telemetry, even if the user has explicitly opted out. However, Google collects significantly more data about the phone than Apple. During the first 10 minutes after startup, a Pixel phone sends about 1MB of data to Google, while an iPhone sends about 42KB of data to Apple. When the phones are idle, the Pixel sends about 1MB of data to Google every 12 hours, while the iPhone sends 52KB to Apple, meaning Google collects about 20 times more data about the phones than Apple."

The situation is even worse with smartphones from China: they transmit data not only to the US, but also "to their own home." In a new study, "Android OS Privacy Under the Magnifying Glass – An Eastern Tale" the Android firmware of Redmi, OnePlus and Realme smartphones was studied. Using a combination of static and dynamic code analysis methods, the researchers examined the data transmitted by pre-installed system apps. It was found that a significant number of pre-installed system apps, device manufacturer apps and third-party developers have dangerous privileges. As a result of traffic analysis, it was also found that these apps transmit sensitive information related to the user's device (persistent identifiers), geolocation (GPS coordinates, network identifiers), user profile (phone number, app usage) and social relationships (e.g. call history) to a number of third-party domains without consent or even notification. The researchers also compared pre-installed system apps in Chinese (CN) and global Android OS distributions from the same manufacturers. It turned out that the number of pre-installed third-party apps is significantly higher in local Chinese distributions than in the global version, while they have 8-10 times more dangerous permissions. Of course, on the one hand, the local distribution for China does not have Google Mobile Services, meaning that data is not transferred to the US, but on the other hand, the amount of data collected and transferred to China, as shown in the study, is significantly greater. Thus, using a smartphone with local firmware for China (and such devices have recently begun to appear on sale) does not provide any advantages in principle and is quite risky.

Another option for "Android without Google" is Huawei smartphones, which since 2020 have used only the Chinese manufacturer's own mobile services. However, such smartphones are presented on the market in small quantities. According to an analytical report by GS Group, Huawei imports to Russia amounted to only 600 thousand devices in the first half of 2023 out of a total volume of 15.6 million units, and the fleet of active Huawei smartphones in Russia is only 4.8 million units. There is currently no reliable data on what information Huawei smartphones collect and transmit.